All posts tagged Cadillac

During a test drive in a new car, details of the trip often make stronger impressions than the vehicle itself. Such was the case with the 2014 Cadillac CTS I have been driving for the past week.

I looked forward to trying out the third generation of Cadillac’s midsize sport sedan, which takes aim at the best luxury cars from Europe. The CTS is so well-regarded that it is among three finalists for the North American Car of the Year prize, which will be awarded during next month’s Detroit auto show. I am not among the 50 automotive writers who vote on the “NACOTY” award, but I kept the car’s finalist status in mind as I drove it and tried to size up its worthiness. Read More »

On any given day at Cadillac, employees might be test-driving vehicles in simulated weather conditions, sculpting full-scale car models out of clay or promoting the brand at auto shows or racetracks. The office style at General Motors’ Detroit headquarters and its Eero Saarinen-designed Technical Center, which together employ some 23,000 GM workers, reflects that range of responsibilities.

“Cadillac has always been about style and design and prestige, and you can’t help but be affected by the brand you work with,” said Sean Thornton, advertising manager for the Escalade, who said his style subconsciously became more polished when he moved from Chevrolet, another GM brand, to Cadillac. Read More »

When car companies want to boost sales of niche sports cars they might paint them purple, attach a “special edition” label and charge a premium for them. That’s what Cadillac did it with its XLR convertible a decade ago, and now Nissan is using similar tactics to make its speedy GT-R more attractive.

The company revealed its 2014 GT-R Special Edition in a hue called “midnight opal,” which appears to shift from a deep purple to a dark blue with different lighting conditions and viewing angles. Nissan said the paint is applied by hand. Read More »

We know self-driving cars are coming to the mass market, but we aren’t sure when. Cadillac says one form of automated motoring could be available later this decade.

The luxury-car unit of General Motors Co. said it has tested its Super Cruise system on real roads in addition to closed courses and in simulators. Super Cruise uses radar, GPS map data, cameras and ultrasonic sensors to guide vehicles without driver input in certain situations.

However, the system is only semi-automated, so the driver still has to pay attention.

Super Cruise is designed for hands-off driving in highway situations, where it can keep a vehicle in its lane while controlling speed, following distances and other factors. It is intended to cut reduce the driver’s workload on freeways, in bumper-to-bumper traffic and on long road trips.

Tiger Woods’ plan to return to professional golf at next month’s Masters tournament raises questions. Has he kept fit? Are his skills still sharp? And what ever happened to his crashed Cadillac SUV?

Will it resurface years from now like other infamous autos including President Kennedy’s limousine and Jayne Mansfield’s Buick? Not likely, according to a Cadillac spokesman.

For starters, the SUV wasn’t really his. The Cadillac Escalade SUV the golfer was driving when he hit a fire hydrant and tree last November was on loan from General Motors Corp., Cadillac’s parent company. Woods spent years as a pitchman for the company’s Buick vehicles and even though he stopped making ads for Buick, GM wanted to keep the relationship cordial. So it continued to loan Woods vehicles for everyday use. “We said, ‘We’re breaking up, but we’re going to stay friends,’” the Cadillac spokesman says. Read More »

Two weeks ago, actress and singer Patti LuPone grabbed a cell phone out of the hand of an audience member who was texting during a performance of her current play, "Shows for Days." The bold move led to an outpouring of support from fans fed up with glowing screens. Ms. LuPone gives us her five rules of theater etiquette.